Category: LGBT

7 Years of Good Luck…? Ellen Degeneres Returns to Host The 2014 Academy Awards

I for one am excited For Ellen Degeneres to host the Oscars – despite the fact that anyone would be better than say…Whoopi Goldberg…

Ellen DeGeneres will be hosting the Oscars for the second time tomorrow Sunday, March 2nd and I think she’ll be a hit. She’s timely, funny, engaging and there’s very few people who’ll be angry with her if she makes fun of them because she’s found a balance between being snarky and kind.

It’s been 7 years since her last stint

According to Beth Hanna – Parade Magazine:

Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres sat down with Parade Magazine days before the big show to discuss all things movies and Academy Awards, including why her initial reaction to hosting for a second time around was “no,” on her decision to not dance on the Kodak stage, on being the inspiration for current Oscar nominee Sandra Bullock’s 1999 hit “Miss Congeniality” and more. Interview highlights, below.

On why she initially said no to hosting the Oscars again (her 2007 hosting earned her an Emmy nomination):

“Everybody who works with me thought I was crazy. But the person who lives with me—Portia—was on my side. She thought, ‘I don’t need to go through this, either. She’s gonna be stressed.’”

“I’m not going to be dancing. I dance on my show. I don’t think people need to see that every time I do anything.”

On beating out Jennifer Aniston for the supporting role in 1999’s “EDtv”:

“Jen Aniston is my friend and she recently reminded me that I beat her out of that. I got the part and Jen Aniston didn’t! That’ll probably be the only time that happens.”

On being the inspiration for the film “Miss Congeniality”:

“Miss Congeniality was written based on me. When I was getting ready to cohost the Emmys, the writer saw me [on TV] learning how to walk in a dress and heels. My stylist at the time—a man—was teaching me, and it was hilarious. The Miss Congeniality writer saw it and thought it was brilliant.”

On maybe taking on an occasional dramatic film role:

“Okay, I’ll do that. Put that I’m available for small roles. If they give me the right one, I promise I’ll be nominated for an Oscar, if not win… You know what? I can tell people that on Oscar night.”

On February 22, 2009, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for “Milk” at the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

He wore a White Knot to the ceremony as a symbol of solidarity with the marriage equality movement. In his acceptance speech at the Oscar ceremony, he said:

“ … When I was thirteen years old my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California and I heard the story of Harvey Milk and it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life, it gave me the hope to one day I could live my life openly as who I am, and that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married.